Cindy's pov
But things never go in the course we wished them to, especially in matters regarding love.
"So this is love… ummmmm" Cindy sang the same song as she did to the mumbling birds, but now she felt uncertain, with a wobbling, nervous heart that was not quite in the right place. It was not the same pristine wishful love she felt for the Prince whom she adored, admired with all her heart, and she would not want to hurt him in any circumstances. He had been the best and sweetest man any woman, let alone a princess could wish for.
This is too much to be thinking about, for one glimpse at a moment and falling hard in love. And she laughed at herself mockingly, isn't this what all Disney princesses do? And as one of the older princesses, isn't this a bit – isn't she a bit too old for a new fluttering of heart? This kind of behavior would be almost excusable if it was Rapunzel or Princess Anna or God Forbid – the famous Elsa.
Elsa would not have been bothered. What would Elsa have done? She would walk straight out of the door, and profess her love for whomever, if she ever did fall in love…
Cindy thought, if she were to see Aurora again, she might as well be in the best form she could be, and as a princess afterall, she thought first what she would wear.
Is this so shallow of me? She laughed nervously of what Aurora would think of that. And would that have made me an adulterous woman. The harshness of the words suddenly hit her, not only would she lose all her status as a princess, she would hurt the Prince, but also she would be a woman who did not respect her responsibilities as a wife, a mother to a kingdom.
She sat there pondering for long, or at least it felt v long… staring out of the window, foolishly vainly, lost in love, with the idea of love, with a woman she barely knew.
"Your highness!" Her lady in waiting Bree shouted, as Princess Anna and Vanellope hopped into the room soundlessly. "Welcoming- Princess Anna & Elsa of Arendelle and Princess Vanellope from – Slaughter Race!"
"What could be bothering our dear sis Cindy?" Anna asked dreamily. Anna grimaced knowing Cindy's "in love face", "I know I know, and we know you are not Megara, you would rather know it is love, than to be in denial. We could help you know, send love letters to her, test to see if she responds. Princess Aurora, that sweetest princess. Altho I really think that is more cute than hot."Vanellope babbled on and on, much to Cindy's irritation, even when she knew Vanellope was trying to help.
"A love letter?" Cindy asked curiously. "to a married princess? Is that even moral?"
Anna blinked, "so what I was once betrothed to Hans, but if it's meant to be it is, and if you feel you find love elsewhere… I think Prince Charming would want the best for you too." Cindy picked up her pen at the urges of Anna and Vanellope and began writing...
Aurora's pov
Back in the French courts, Aurora could not forget the electrifying feeling she got while she lay eyes on Cindy. She was a naturally poised princess whose name literally means light, and people had compared her with beam of light shining into a room whenever she decided to grace it with her presence. Due to her good nature, she had never been jealous or resentful of another princess' beauty, which some had compared with Belle's, another princess living in the French Courts. Nor was she feeling insecure, for her lack of proper royal upbringing, due to the fairy's affairs. Now after being married to Prince Phillip, she could have any amount of princess education to make up for it.
The image of Cindy was unwavering and would not escape her mind. The gold locks, the silvery blue signature dress that looked like it came straight out from a fairy tale. It was the golden girl Cindy, for god's sake, and it was hard not to love her. But to fall in love with her? Was that a possibility?
A bird chirped cheerfully outside, the only blemish was the uncertainty of Cindy's feelings for her, but a letter fell upon Aurora's lap, delivered by a pastel colored birdie that was beckoning her to open it.
From Cindy.
Aurora opened it carefully, with love and care.
"Dearest Aurora,
I believe that was the first time we have ever met, and this might come as a shock to you, however my feelings must not be contained and that I must reveal them to you. I would love more than anything to become well acquainted with you, and to know everything about you, and to accompany you wherever you are to go -
In other words, I am in love with you dearly - and I know more that we have known each other only so little - for only a dance, but I can feel in my heart that this is where my heart is leading me..."
Aurora was half furious and half apprehensive. She was mad that Cindy was so forward with her feelings, hasn't she fallen in love with the Prince the same way? Does she fall in and out of love so easily? And what was she expecting out of this, while Aurora was Prince Phillip's wife afterall?
She blushed at the thought of Cindy holding her during the dance. She could not resist feeling that it really was love upon first sight, and it felt more intense, purer, and more irresistible the feeling she had for Prince Phillip, a mixture of maternal, sexual and infatuation.
"Would you accompany me to Ariel's concert, which would be held only for us secretly, and the princesses?"
She ended her letter there and then, and Aurora folded the letter carefully, her delicate figure shaking from joy and surprise.
Cindy's pov
"Do you think she would come at all?" Cindy was nervously seated with Belle inside a private side chamber inside an opera house, "I believe so, I have been best friends with her for so many years, I could see the glimmer in her eyes when she told me about it." Belle said to Cindy. As it happened, Belle visited Aurora just when she finished her letter, and Aurora had kept it a secret from her. "Belle, "She didn't say anything about it, but I could see, as i know her so well, something had changed in her eyes. a hope, something revelatory as if she couldn't see or feared so much."
Belle heard a rustling of curtains, "I think she's here." Belle whispered and disappeared, while a lady in waiting Bree escorted Aurora to a seat next to Cindy. It has been a week since Cindy last saw Aurora, but her beauty, her grace and charms, were unmistakable and nothing unlike the beauty she saw in the ballroom. Her golden locks shimmered and she blushed at the sight of Cindy.
She said down chastely, and said "I don't know what you are expecting, but I also could not resist seeing you, and becoming your well acquaintance as you have mentioned in the letter."
"and – "and Cindy had silenced her with her finger, and their eyes were staring at each other intensely, "perhaps" If this were truly disney, Cindy knew they would break into a song, but she could only feel the impulse to kiss Aurora's red rosy lips. "and perhaps more..." Aurora finally said, before she gulped, and ashamed regretfully
Ariel's singing began in the background, a singing so breathtakingly beautiful and deep that it sounded as if it was melancholic and yearning for more at hte same time. It was nothing like the usual " part of your world.." it was about love that was forbidden and Ariel transformed the melody angelically into a beautiful manifestation of what it could happen between Cindy and Aurora.
"I know this is forbidden but I felt you are the one." Cindy said to Aurora.
Belle overheard them in the curtains and laughingly mockingly said in her mind, "what is with Disney princess and falling in first love without knowing a thing about each other. In this regard, she always felt like a minority with Mulan, since knowing your partner first always was considered a minority leisurely hobby in the disney realm."
"We hardly know each other," Aurora said teasingly, but Cindy already took her hand. "there must be some things we know about each other first... and we are married... so it's not quite the same..." and they had a most whimsical dialogue about Ariel's singing, about how they both felt it was truly and hiddenly a song about repressed loves, about how they both enjoyed fairy god mothers and marveled at their dressmaking abilities, about how they grew up, rather friendless, either surrounded by mice, or only in the woods with birds.
They bonded over how they always felt a bit out of place, to be back in the palace with their husbands, the princes who always felt at home, and almost estranged from their wives who was slightly an oddity in the palace, unable to fully perform as a spoilt, rules binding princess. Cindy felt she was never quite the sort of princess that Prince Charming was looking for.
Deep down Cindy worried this was a fantasy too good to be true, god forbid, she 's in love with a fellow princess, and she would have to give up everything to be with her. If she was discovered, the crowds would be disappointed by their childless queen, now in love with another, and the husband princes would doubtless be pushed into a swirl of despair and bitterness.
At the end of the concert, their topics had gone from childhood to palace traumas and of favourite foods. Cindy felt she had to take it a step further, "would you elope with me? If you had a chance?" Cindy asked teasingly and wondered if she would be becoming a second Elsa."
"Elope to where?" Aurora asked innocently. "To the woods?"
"I can arrange with Elsa and we can live in the icy palace for a while. While the other Princesses will help out sort out the arrangement with the Prince."
Aurora looked down, "I have given up on my people for so long, I would hate to abandon them now for love, when I just returned to resume my duties, and to protect the rights of magical races. I could not leave now, but you could come and live with me."
Aurora's pov
"What really happened, you must tell us." In a princess common room, Cindy and Aurora were surrounded by their princess friends, and were asked what happened, "were they just friends, were they in a relationship?"
"We are secretly in a relationship." Aurora said fancifully, and Mulan, Belle and Jasmine gasped from the reply. "But you do know you are married, and you have duties to your country, husband," Mulan said furiously, "yes yes Mulan, but you know what sometimes it doesn't work out, " Belle said understandingly, "but is this a les relationship between the princess, I really never quite thought about that." Jasmine said.
"I also didn't tell Prince Charming, but I guessed he knew so much. This. We have hardly spoken to each other outside of royal duties and he always said I didn't understand. I am always the type to work on things with my own hands, respecting little mice and people from lower ranks, but he was always in a world of his own." Cindy said, feeling confident.
"What about Aurora?" Belle asked thoughtfully. "It would be so hard to break it to Prince Phillip and the people, is what I am so worried about," Princess Aurora said heartbreakingly, "I am worried about how he would react, altho I know he always wants what is the best for me."
"This is going to be a really difficult decision, are you really sure about this, that you are right for each other?" Belle asked concernedly.
"Yes, I never found this kind of connection, someone who truly respects my beliefs and understandings, and not simply delegated to the servants or appeared some public events, I felt like Aurora really is the one I could truly talk to, and not simply be a vase in a palace." Cindy said. Jasmine shifted in her chair and replied, "well, you can start talking to Aladdin and see how well he always copes to the palace situation. He never had a problem enjoying the wealth and leisure of palace life."
Aurora sighed. "I feel somewhat lacking that connection with Phillip because he always is so protective of me and married me because he feels he could protect me from the world, but he understands nothing about my race, or that i am not an obedient princess who would serve his queen empress mother silently, and the cracks in the marriage keep resurfacing..."
Mulan looked up from the satin cushion she was toying with in her hands, this is really making her nervous, "I am happy for you two, but Cindy you will have to be prepared to meet angry crowds who may not recognize you as the princess anymore, and Aurora would have to carry on the duties as a princess on her own... It really is going to be no easy task without the prince..."
"Oh no," Cindy 's note of sadness in her voice was real. The Prince Charming had done nothing wrong, and she fell in love, with a princess she felt that could understand her better. She felt that it is a different kind of love. With the prince, it was like fitting into a perfect lifestyle, and a role in the castle, which was so perfect for my nature. The Prince was always kind, but she always felt that something was missing.
"Let it go, we know how hard it is beneath the façade of perfect happiness, some of these marriages are not quite what they are, and it's only a matter of time, you realised, even without the third person coming into the relationship." Elsa said, and nobody noticed when she entered the room. She sparkled in her snowy beautiful outfit, which swept through the room, leaving a trail of chill and iciness.